How Do I Tell When The Smoke Is Truly Finished?

Pipe smoking is just about enjoyment. If you are done, you are done. Even if it was coals and ash , if for some reason you like setting them on fire and smoking them then go for it.

tonguebite, you get clear signals from your pipe. First, most of us relight at least once or more as we smoke a bowl,

and that involves tamping the tobacco down with a tamper, pipe tool, pipe nail or (my dad's favorite) a finger. You

can feel if there is some tobacco left each time you tamp it. When you get down to a third of a bowl, unless it's a

giant pipe, that's usually about the end of the tobacco. Sometimes that little fraction of a bowl won't relight, or

won't stay lit. Don't be cheap; give it up! Also, toward the end of a bowl, you'll often get a little bite even with

a smooth blend, so that's a good signal too. Nonetheless, I'm often surprised to discover how little burnable tobacco

is left. Often, there is almost no dottle (unburned tobacco, not ash). A lot of this pipe smoking is just practice.

Once you have the fundamentals, the pipe will teach you. Wanted to mention, I've been to Ireland twice, once for

a drive-around plus Dublin, and a second time, just Dublin itself. What a great country. I savored all the surprises.

Never expected palm trees that far north, from the gulfstream I guess. And four or five or more distinct weather

changes a day, from fog, to sunny, to drizzle, to gale. Your window seldom presents the same scene twice.

The pubs, the shrines, the sheep, the gorsh, and the Cliffs of Mor. Pardon my spelling. It's just a sweet scene

that speaks to the soul. I have my Peterson pipes to remind me, including the Around the World commemorative

for Ireland, which is a red tone bulldog. Love that Guinness. I always give 'em time to draw it slow.

If the charred tobacco at the bottom tastes good...keep going til you don't get any more smoke.
I usually stop before I hit the bottom. The relights for me really damage the flavor. If you can smoke to the bottom without relights it will taste great all the way down. YMMV

honestly, I very rarely re-light. I just don't like the taste after I apply the flame to tobacco again. But, it took me awhile to figure out just how to pack, tamp, and puff. You need to find out what works for you. That being said, with a new pipe, I would be careful about re-lighting if the tobacco is low. You don't want your pipe to get too hot.
It's definitely a learning experience, and everybody's different. I'm still learning new things

:rofl:Not sure if this was suggested or advised but its what I do. My pipe tool is a tamper/poker/pipe knife and as stated above I tamp and if it goes out I use my poker and break it up a bit, tamp down lightly and then dump the ash and relight. Once I am getting closer to the bottom f the bowl and it goes out I can use my poker and just by the feel tell how much unburied tobacco is left. Just takes some practice to tell if your poker is going through ash or pushing passed unburied baccy. I hope that helped... If not make a see through pipe? :rofl:

Welcome!

You are done when you decide to be done. If the smoke is no longer pleasing you because it has become bitter or for some other reason, then pitch it and start over.

I am usually done when it gets too bitter to enjoy or I am sucking ash into my mouth and burning it LOL

Great question, as it is very hard to tell sometimes and I face this problem as well sometimes.
-Frank

Your smoke is truly finished when you suck up pure ash, or what might happen even before that, then you've burned a hole into the heel of your pipe

Welcome to the forum, Tonguebite.
This is a good question, and frankly now that you mention it, I've wondered it myself!
I find that I don't mind relighting, even after several hours if I've been interrupted for some reason. But, I've often relighted cigars after a time without being bothered by that either.
My experience has also been that I've dumped tobacco that could have been smoked, maybe even a quater bowl if it has become bitter and unpleasant. It just is.
I would say, don't worry about it. Tobacco for pipes is so cheap compared to cigars, and cigarettes, for that matter.

In theory it comes with practice. Usually, for me, when I approach the bottom fifth or sixth of my bowl, a distinct change in flavor profile occurs. Slightly more rank, and vegetal. This alerts me to the fact that I'm approaching the end of my smoke. At that point I'll tamp, and if I'm nearly at the base of the chamber, why then, I'll call it a day, and clean the dottle. A few blends, like Escuudo, Pirate Kake, Westminster ... don't do this and I'll smoke these till it goes out naturally due to the depletion of combustable material in the bowl. But these smokes are the exception.

I usually know when I am done after I have sucked in a mouthful of hot ash.
Seriously though, that does happen more than I would like to admit. I keep smoking because the flavor is good, when it is not good, I dump the bowl and in most cases there is nothing but ash left. I smoke flakes exclusively and the flavors get more intense and concentrated the lower the bowl goes, so I am chasing flavor as I go lower.

When I'm near the bottom and I start to taste the ash I'll dump the top layer of ash out then give the bowl a stir to bring unsmoked tobacco to the top. When it tastes like ash again I'm done. Another indicator is when you have to relight frequently as the charred tobacco won't keep lit well.

Its finished when you are done with it.

tonguebitepipecleaner, I would much rather put up with a little ash once in a while than use a filter and lose a lot of flavor. When I smoked cigarettes, the difference in flavor between an unfiltered and filtered cig was huge so I am sure it is the same with pipes. Also the thought of a filter all nasty with tar and nicotine just kind of skeeves me out. lol

Stick your finger in the bowl. If it gets burnt, the smoke is still going.>>>>> The smoke is over when after careful tamping, you can't light it anymore.